The world needs a strong America as much as ever By Brian Cattell on November 27, 2013

Obama’s foreign policy weakness should spark a debate among U.S. conservativesIn the days since news of a deal on Iran’s nuclear programme broke, I’ve lost count of the number of commentators – of both the right and the left – lining up to denounce President Obama as the new Neville Chamberlain.“Worse than Munich”, screamed the headline of one column published in the Wall Street Journal.One prominent conservative radio host even asserted that Chamberlain was a left wing Labour party member who was sacked by his own party for being too left wing at Munich (talk about moulding the facts to your argument: Chamberlain was of course a Conservative).As far as the Iranian agreement is concerned, it is true that any sensible person should have deep misgivings about it: the Western powers appear to have spectacularly underplayed a strong hand, and the deal runs the grave risk of allowing Iran to edge towards its malevolent nuclear ambitions by stealth.However, rather than resembling the great appeaser Chamberlain, the worry is that Obama is starting to look more like Woodrow Wilson, the “great progressive” President whose hopeless idealism on the world stage preceded America’s virtual withdrawal from global affairs and the nightmare of the 1930s.Like Wilson, Obama is a well-meaning and idealistic liberal. But he is up against countries and individuals who recognise only cold, hard Realpolitik – and see his idealism simply as an opportunity to be exploited.Unfortunately, therefore, at a time when challenges on the international stage are proliferating, the administration continues to project a profound sense of American weakness, one that is almost unprecedented in modern times. So, of course, that will only embolden those people who seek to challenge Western hegemony – and those that do are not generally proponents of democracy, free markets and individual rights.The potential threats to Western interests and the balance of power are manifold, and the stakes could not be higher.Beyond the Middle East, they include the escalating tensions in the East China Sea and China’s throwing down the gauntlet with provocative new air defence rules; the fate of Ukraine – whose people want to strike out on a new Western-oriented path – but whose supine politicians have been strong-armed back into line by a ruthless Vladimir Putin; as well as the woefully underreported but rapidly deteriorating situation in a number of African countries where Western commercial interests (not to mention democratic ideals) must make do with scant political support.All of this is as much a challenge for American conservatives, as it is for the current liberal incumbents.History shows that Wilson’s decline was followed by a sweeping victory for Republican isolationism, which ultimately helped create the conditions in which the enemies of a Western way of life could prosper and wreak havoc.It is one thing therefore for conservatives to criticise the Obama administration’s many fumbles on the international stage. But they must also show what kind of foreign policy they would put in its place.Nobody would advocate a return to the discredited neo-conservative doctrine of the Bush era but isolationism, which appeals to a growing part of the conservative movement in the US, is also not the answer. Of course, America cannot micro-manage every conflict in the world, and it certainly cannot fight every war.But a United States that is enfeebled and withdrawn from international affairs would be a disaster, first of all for the many parts of the world that still look towards it, but then, in due course for Americans themselves.That should never happen again.

amenper: First Happy ThanksgivingWashington’s Proclamation 1789hereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to “recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His Providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which he has been pleased to confer upon us.And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our national government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

THE RIGHT STUFF‘2016’: OBAMA PLANS TO ‘TAKE AMERICA DOWN’Startling predictions now coming true at breakneck speed

In the 2012 highest-grossing documentary, “2016: Obama’s America,” political commentator Dinesh D’Souza made some startling predictions about the second term of Barack Obama – and now he has released a fresh, eight-minute addition to the film revealing how the president plans to “take America down a notch.”D’Souza explains, “One of the predictions is that Obama would spend money promiscuously to raise the debt in virtual indifference to the impact of the debt on American citizens. In fact, Obama has been racking up the debt at the rate of $1 trillion a year. The debt has doubled in Obama’s term in office.”Obama’s plot to “drag the economy down” and redistribute American wealth to the rest of the world – and financially cripple the nation – he explains, “is a transfer of hundreds of billions, in fact trillions of dollars, out of the United States and into other countries.”Watch the new addition to the film:In his addition to the film, D’Souza also explains exactly why and how “Obama wants to shrink the influence of American foreign policy” by “undermining our allies and … allowing our adversaries to remain in power.”In an email announcing the film update, D’Souza wrote, “[T]here are those within our country that seek to undermine [America’s] exceptionalism and ‘take us down a notch.’ What’s worse is that one of those people happens to be the president of the United States.“When I directed ’2016: Obama’s America’ over a year ago, I prayed that I would be wrong. The damage that I predicted Obama would do to our country could never be worth an ‘I told you so.’“Unfortunately, I wasn’t wrong. Wielding a weaponized national debt and a disdain for our standing in the world, President Obama draws us nearer and nearer to the dystopia that I warned against in 2016.”Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/11/2016-obama-plans-to-take-america-down/#jSaPARVFJJ0qEML0.99